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Benefits of a Web Conferencing System
The increasing globalization of businesses and their
markets are driving companies to adopt more collaborative measures in order to
counteract the challenges they're faced with everyday. Advances in technology
and the Internet have brought about the rapid increase in development of web
conferencing systems. But exactly what kind of benefits do companies get from
their web conferencing software?
Web Conferencing Provides an Alternative to
Travel
One of the many advantages of web conferencing software is that
it can be used as an alternative to travel which is far more costly and less
secure. With virtual meetings held in their web conferencing room, companies
now have a way to meet with the staff, discuss new projects, make sales
presentations, and all in all, increase overall productivity of the business
without having to spend a single penny on air travel or hotel accommodations.
"The average business traveler will spend three years in flight, two
years traveling to and from airports, 28 months waiting for flights (that are
on time), 11 months waiting for connections, and more than three months just
searching for a parking spot, according to the National Business Travel
Association," reports James McKeown of Stampede Technologies, a marker of
collaborative and web conferencing software solutions.
He further
adds, "In light of this, many organizations are reconsidering all but
mission-critical face-to-face meetings. Nimble companies are demanding better,
faster, and cheaper answers to their meeting needs." And thus, web conferencing
provides the solution.
"As leaders cut back on travel, conference
calls are yesterday's way of meeting," Jaclyn Kostner, Ph.D., author of Bionic
eTeamwork, observes. "Conference calls work as a supplement to face-to-face
meetings, but when people are not traveling and getting to know one another,
conference calls alone are ineffective." The supplementation of conference
calls with web casting and web conferencing is an advantage in that it
increases productivity and helps participants get work done faster.
Web Conferencing Provides an Excellent Method of
Online Education
Another powerful real world application where web
conferencing can show its advantage is education. Now that so many people are
comfortable with email, online education programs and seminars based on
interactive chat and web conferencing software are gaining in popularity.
"While there is less personal experience in an online meeting, there are
huge advantages to holding online meetings, including no travel costs and no
travel time," says Al Rickard, president of Association of Visions.
Web
conferencing allows an increased focus on task at hand. Conferencing via web
can be done within the privacy of your office where there's less distraction
and you can keep your attention to what is being discussed. The people you'll
be dealing with are connected to you virtually so whatever interaction you may
have with them will be strictly about the discussion at hand.
Web
conferencing lets you see and even interact with the material being taught. A
presenter can use the desktop sharing mode and show participants exactly what
is on the presenters computer screen. This "show-and-tell" is great when
demonstrating a particular feature of a software program or method used to
complete a task.
Web conferencing also supports orderliness during a
meeting. Conferencing software allow the room moderator to enforce
one-at-a-time features or the need to "raise a hand" in order to have control
over the microphone. In this way, everyone has the chance to speak out and the
opportunity to voice out what they have in mind.
Web Conferencing Provides a Degree of Privacy not
Available Otherwise
Privacy is another compelling advantage of web
conferencing via the web. This means that while you're attending a virtual
meeting or conferencing via web, you have almost total and complete privacy.
You can dress as you like, sit as you like, drink if you like, and even smoke
throughout. You can put your feet up, lean in your seat, and do whatever you
want so long as you keep your attention on the topic being discussed.
Mailing Lists vs. Web Conferencing Systems
With the rapid growth of technology, web conferencing systems are fast
replacing email lists in disseminating information through the web. But don't
get this wrong though. Email is not about to get phased out.
A mailing list is a type of online service wherein a
group of people get to share the same information. This is done through a
central source, typically called a List server, which is responsible for
sending out information to all subscribers of the list. The List server is
nothing more than a computer which stores a list of email addresses.
There are several problems with email lists that led to businesses using web
conferencing systems instead. These are:
- It is inconvenient to limit access to specific
email messages to specific people within a group. List servers mail to everyone
or no one at all. Of course, a human Moderator may be chosen to intercept and
edit the incoming messages but this significantly limits the interaction
between members. The goal of web conferencing system is to enhance human
interaction between participants in an online environment.
- Email arrives chronologically and is not organized
in any other way. This makes web conferencing systems much more preferable
since, with the use of playback options, the minutes of a virtual meeting could
be stored using the application's more advanced organization capabilities.
- Email can be hard to read. Email messages usually
have lots of cryptic header material, no formatting, and virtually no font
changes. Web conferencing systems on the other hand is done in real-time and
makes use of not just text messages but voice, video, and whiteboard graphics
as well.
- Graphics cannot be displayed on many systems.
- There is no common document database with email.
Each person has his/her own copy of each email item, and people vary in what
they delete or save. If they do save messages, each person has his or her own
idiosyncratic method for organizing it. With information individualized this
way, it’s hard for a company comprised of several individuals to keep
track of information using a common denominator.
- Replying in context is difficult. You will either
have to repeat the original message or summarize it. Some email programs today
actually let you delete portions of the original message but that would mean
cutting up the context.
- No convenient way for multiple people to work
jointly on the same document. With web conferencing system’s countless
sharing options, you virtually have control over the desktop of other
participant’s desktop.
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More about Web Conferencing
About Web Conferencing
It should be noted that web
conferencing doesn't just mean a real-time online discussion between
individuals on the web. It has come to mean more than that as technology
continues to expand.
Audio Web Conferencing
Serving as a
powerful tool for company meetings, audio web conferencing is the preferred low
cost telecommunication tool preferred by many companies today.
How Web Conferencing Works
During web conferencing, each participant of the meeting sits at his own
computer that is connected to others' computers via the Internet. The Internet
therefore serves as the matrix by which the whole web conferencing network
relies on.
Cheap Web Conferencing
Now, not only
do you have the industry giants, such as Microsoft, Macromedia, and WebEx
dominating the market, but you also have such companies as Hot Conference,
offering their own two cents to the more affordable web conferencing solutions.
Free VoIP Online Conference Room
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